Wretched Eggs
by amateur Auth0r
Summary: Should the past stay in the past? Or should it be uncovered and for all to hear? Hiccup, is the truth meant for science, or self glory? Choose wisely, for your decision, will mean the beginning, or end of a new dragon age.
1. Chapter 1: The Book

Fishlegs wondered around the library, trapped in his own little world, naming book after book as he passed it's covers, being reminded of their content with a delightful hum.

Stroking his chubby chin, were his neck should be, he reached his meaty hand to the top book on the shelf. It was the last book he had yet to read that the Vikings possessed. He had saved all the books in the village from dirty hands only reaching for them for fire fuel or butt whippers.

His house was crammed full of them, reaching all the way to his attic. His dragon, Meatlug, was not impressed for she was shooed outside to the small shed where she and Fishlegs sleep.

Fishlegs egualy, but gently, took the hard covered book down from its place and shuffled off to the middle of his house which had a reading desk waiting for him.

His fingers twitched at the corners, what was he about to discover in it's pages? He hoped he would find more new dragon documents or far away lands yet to be found by Hiccup who was currently out flying the sky's with his night fury, toothless, making a remarkable map of the world. He held his breath and looked at the first page. A dull, crooked writing, was looking up at him.

Story of the wretched eggs.

Fishlegs nearly jumped out of his tightly squeezed pants, he had never heard of Wretched Eggs, was it a new dragon? He hoped.

The book was full of detailed drawings and rich words he had never seen before, the boarders of every page was covered in golden flowers, made with unnatural looking paste. With every page he read his body started to tremble, if what he was reading was true, he had just discovered the tale of the creation of dragons.

Hiccup opened his arms, letting the cold breeze fly through his hair, around his body and fall far behind him. He was not cold nor warm, but in a perfect balance. They were gliding over the clouds, getting stung by the little droplets of water, daring to venture from it's puffy home.

Toothless readied his plasma with a high pitched noise, the sound traveling around hiccups head. He braced himself, holding his body close to his friends in a failed attempt to avoid the ash and smoke which came after it.

Blue plasma shot out, signifying his arrival at his village, Berk. A cold miserable place that snows nine months of the year and hails the other three. All the food their grows tough and tasteless, and the people even more so. The only upside was the dragons, who painted Berk with their never ending colours and brilliant personalities. Once they were hunted and killed, but now, after Hiccup met Toothless and changed minds about dragons, they were now kept as pets, or really, family.

As they passed the rock statutes, to ward off other Vikings, they neatly landed in the middle of town where they were greeted by the Vikings who used to give him the cold shoulder but now gave him their up most attention.

The crowd was swarming with all sorts of fokes, from the fat to the fatter, from small children to the oldest of Vikings, but all had one thing in common, they wanted something.

Most wanted to get hiccup too look at their dragons, for they were ill or wanting new riding gear, others wanted riding lessons, then the most rare wanted to see how he was going and what he had discovered.

Still on toothless, he made his way though the crowd, ordering them to line up at the shop, line up at the training centre or line up at the tavern.

He almost took off again to find a quieter place to rest, but picked up Fishlegs excited chants amongst the crowd. He saw his friends sausage fingers reach out of the swarm of people, "meet me at the library!" He screeched, and left trotting excitedly as hiccup recognised his request with a nod. Whatever Fishlegs found, hiccup thought to himself, it was really important or just plane awesome.

He gave a quick apology to the crowd and willed Toothless to take flight. It was only a short time until he reached Fishlegs door before Fishlegs arrived. He took the spare time to unsaddle and guide toothless to Meatlug, who slept lazily in the shed. He wished he could bring Toothless in with him but the small space between the shelves bearly fit Fishlegs let alone a dragon. But Toothless didn't want to wait around the the big news and flew up to Fishlegs roof and sat himself close to the window where he could listen in. Hiccup was amused and ventured inside to the middle of the house.

"Can you hear me, bud?" He asked, and got a night furry raw in response. Fishlegs rushed in, holding his heart as he took one large and forced breath after the other.

"Big.." He huffed, "dragons..." He weased, "awesome.." He collapsed on the near by chair, holding a fat finger to Hiccup, signifying for him to wait.

"Big awesome dragon, how can I wait for that?" Hiccup laughed, taking his place on the corner of the desk. Fishlegs pushed the book towards Hiccup, nodding and smiling at the same time. Hiccup picked it up, expecting a new species of very large dragon filling it's pages, but found a child's story instead.

Long long ago, when the world was at peace, when man ruled all. Where no beast roamed with destruction, where villages fear none. A brave group of travellers and a painter set out to discover new land. Many were confused why they would do such thing, for there was plenty of food, and enough land for another six thousand generations. These men wanted adventure, the kind you could not get in your own home town. They built a boat, large enough to supply them with weeks of food and water plus plenty of space, however small but strong. The painter took upon himself to dress the ship the native blues and golds, creating the most beautiful of structures that land had ever seen. They knew not of the horrors they were to encounter of their journey, and set off at a rising sun.

Crunchycough, the leader of the group, a handsome young fellow, who walked with a limp, held out a blank piece of parchment to the painter and ordered he documented all land they discover in as much detail as his paintings, the painter agreed, egure to travel the endless world.

Smallear, the captains right hand man, road the ores with his powerful arms which impressed any maiden who passed. Along with his brother, Stickbutt, who had the equal thickness as his brothers, however lacking a friendly face. The four friends sung merrily their national amthon the whole voyage.

The brave, the bold, the beautiful and the brainy

No ones better then us matey!

We are strong

Never wrong

Not very scary

Just a little hairy

Never a Viking as better then us!

They scaled many lands, marched over many oceans, travelled many months away from there home, but never forgetting it's beauty.

The painter was looking over the map as it happened. The boat hit a large grey rock, eating away it's left side and gashing from the wound was many buckets of water. The only thing salvaged other then their lives was the painters map. They hugged the cliff of the dead island. This was the darkest, they had ever encountered.

Mountainous black stone, dusty at touch was all that was on the island. It's sharp edges and uneven placing nearly cost the travellers their lives.

Finally, after what felt like hours of torture, they collapsed in a deep cave at the edge of the cliff. With no wood for a fire they huddled together, shivering as white snow started to fall outside.

Three days had passed and bellies were beginning to rumble.

"We'll get through this," the painter said, "we always do." But the painters hope did not reach the others.

Smallear was the first to crack, even with his strong build his mind was as soft as a child. He took a handful of rock on a blizzard evening and forced it down his throat. He did this until his stomach could fit no more. Then travelled to the back of the deep dark cave where a deep deep hole sat. Uncrossable and to dark to see the bottom Smallear hoped that water laid below and he was to swim to safety.

His friends pleaded him to stay, his brother pulling him back, but Smallear fought them off and jumped. He closed his eyes, waiting for the water to engulf him or to splat at the bottom.

After a while of very heavy breathing and not much excitement, he opened his eyes and stared at great darkness.

"Smallear.." Stickbutt gasped looking at his brother, suspended on the darkness. He was not falling, but lying on what they thought was the middle of the pit. Stickbutt reached out for his brother and fell himself, but lay on the darkness too.

There was no pit. It was an illusion. The painter rushed to the over side, he had read about places like this and he knew how to get across. The mountains would form tasks for animals to cross. Only the well educated or the strong could get past, to the other live side. Which was told to be filled with a plentiful land. It was only a tale but it was the only hope the travellers had.

They all travelled on and every step the cave became darker. More traps awaited them, most illusions like the first, but some were as life threatening as the mountain cliff. Walls that would cave in, ground covered in spikes and creatures which were never seen before thrived in the darkness, waiting for unexacting prey like the travellers to wonder into their claws. All these tasks were achieved by only working together with the strong and intelligent members.

The horror seemed to be over as they erupted into a very large opening in there path. A light, the thing they had not encountered in a long time, burst through a gap in the celling of the cave. It illuminated four very large rocks, which were decorated with the most vibrant patterns and colours.

A blue one which was covered in glowing moss and violet flowers supported itself on a flame coloured one. And next to those was a nearly pure white rock, painted with swirls and waves, then the last one was almost one with the ground, yet had a more Earthy look through it.

The painter could not help himself but draw these most excellent structures on the back of his map with the dustily rocks. The travellers searched the opening for the next path to take them out but after nearly half a day, there was no luck for finding a way out.

Crunchycough lent on one of the rocks as he caught his ragged breath. To his surprise the rock was oddly warm and if he stood still on it for long enough it would move.

Thinking it was another test, the leader raised his great fists and punched down hard on the rock. His companions joined him, taking there own rock to smash.

The painter pleaded with them to stop destroying such beautiful works of art, but they did not, insisting the painter join in to open them.

He had no choice but to obey, and lifted an oval stone as a weight to crack his. As he too smashed the rocks, the cave became darker and the sun rolled away for the moon to break free.

The painter stopped, and panted for breath as cold beads of sweat slid down his back. His hands had heated and were shaking from the effort of his smashing. Yet his night black stone did not break.

"AHA!" One of his companions called and they all rushed to him. There was a crack in his deep red rock he had been opening.

All the travellers helped together to open it up. It was hard labour, and with every swing of the fists and rocks, the cave began to heat up. Steam burst from the rock as the leader gave one last swing, and in union, all the other rocks cracked to life. They stepped back, waiting for their challenge. There was movement inside. And it did not take long for them to realise these were not just rocks, but eggs.

Hiccup nearly ripped at the page corner to reach the climax, but when he arrived at the next page, what met him was black scrawl which could have been mistaken for an horrible ink spill. Fishlegs hovered over him, engulfed in the book.

I'm sorry

I'm sorry

I'm sorry

Plastered the next two pages. He had noticed the authors writing becoming forced and untidy as the story neared it's climax, but Hiccup just thought it was a bad copy, not a feature.

He looked uneasily at Fishlegs who merely turned to the next page and pointed with a fat finger to a line (or what should have been a line if the page had any type of structure). Hiccup read it out loud.

"I'm sorry for realising this terror onto the world. Let my comrades bones rip at the insides of these horrible beasts and this book remind the people of my cowardliness in the birth of the dragon."

Hiccup had to take a second for all of this world changing information to sink in.

Birth.

The birth of dragons?!

He read the sentence over and over, checking if he had not read it wrong. But it was right there in black and white, the birth of the dragon.

Hiccup turned his eyes to Fishlegs who's smile reached as far as his, he was about to celebate, however Fishlegs indicated that he was not finished.

On the very back of the cover, written in the far corner of the case, were you could only find if you were looking for it, was a tiny scribble in the authors hand writing.

My stone still rests in the cave of the dragon, still guarded by the beastly four. Beware. For the fifth has yet to come. Beware, of the wretched egg.

"Fishlegs, do you know what this means?" Hiccup gasped, the man in question was already jumping out of his seat, excitement untameable.

"A new species of dragon!" They screeched in union. The ecstatic cry from Toothless joined them, wings beating powerfully as his intelegant eyes flashed understanding. They were going on a new adventure!

Both boys burst from the library, racing to their dragons with a new bloom of determination.

The origins of dragons, Hiccup awed internally, and there's still one egg left!

His hands snatched onto Toothlesses saddle, his feet clicking into place as he lifted himself up. Meatlug was close behind him, Fishlegs opening crying out victory. They had to tell the others.


	2. Chapter 2: Up In The Air

/I remembered that people are reading this fic on this website, sorry humans, I hate the fanfiction format because it's tedious but I'll update my fics on here as best as I can :( sorry for the delay

"Astrid!" Hiccup cried from above. The blond in question shot up a welcoming hand, holding a battle axe of course. She tossed her bangs out of her eyes as Toothless landed, Stormfly quickly squawked with delight, stomping over to her friend as Hiccup dismounted. "You're not going to believe what Fishlegs just found," he rasped as she swung the axe to rest on her shoulder naturally, something Hiccup could never do without cutting an arm off or falling from the weight of the sharp weapon.

"Let me guess, another dragon?" She joked, an amused smile dancing around her mouth as she watched her dragon tumble with the nightfury behind her panting friend.

"Yes but something even more spectacular!" His enthusiasm was blinding, and she was almost lost within it, feeling his raw excitement that always set a fire in her blood. But she had to step back a few steps, remind herself that her and Stormfly were passed those days with Hiccup and his adventures, she had responsibilities now, it wasn't like the island would stop being attacked to wait for her return.

"I'm all ears," she breathed, the indifferent coast guard mask slipping on as she turned back to the targets she was practicing on. She almost missed her throw as Hiccups tale unfolded.

"Origins of dragons?" She hissed, and Hiccup was buzzing with excitement.

"I know right!" He grinned, unable to hold still, "I want you to come with us! Please Astrid, this is a once in a life time chance!" Her grasp on her next throwing axe tightened.

"Hiccup, you know I can't-" she began, but the electrified screams of delight drowned her out.

"The twins and gang are back in business!" The two bone heads screamed as they flew over the training arena, Meatlug trailing behind them.

"All I said was new dragon!" Fishleg chuckled, hugging the book tight to his chest. Hiccup grinned up at them, missing the reluctant inner battle showing on his friends face. She had responsibilities. It's wasn't as if she could drop everything and leave like they used to. She was a part of the coast guard, her duty was to the people not new dragons.

"New dragons?" Snotlout asked, pushing in a wheelbarrow of weapons, the Chief close behind him. His eyes too began to glint with the familiar spark that was was lighting Hiccups face.

"What's this all about?" Hiccups father asked, the bush of a beard moving with every word.

"Dad it's amazing, I think we might have found-Dad?" Hiccups enthusiasm faltered when he realised his fathers gaze was was not on him, but on Fishlegs as he descended down into the arena, or more specifically, on the book he was holding.

"Where did you get that?" Stoick asked, his accent layered thick with something grim.

"The library," Hiccup answered, "b-but that's not the point, the thing is-"

"The wretched egg," Hiccups excitement snapped a little at the tone of his fathers voice. It was the one he used when he knew Hiccup was about to do something stupid.

"Y-Yeah, how'd you know?" Hiccup looked back at the book held in Fishlegs chubby hands. Ruffnut and Tuffnut crawled down from their dragon heads, punching and pulling each other, not yet reading the tone in the air.

Stoick sighed heavily, "I hope you ain't goin after it, Hiccup. That book isn't an invitation, it's a warning," he held out his hand for it, and Fishlegs reluctantly handed it over. Toothless nudged Hiccups hand to his head, silently asking what the problem was.

"Dad, it's the origins of the dragon species," he insisted as the man flipped through the pages, eyes darkening.

"Exactly, but the moral of this story is to keep the wretched egg from opening, less dragon breeds the better, even if we have made peace with them son, you don't want to be like the travellers and open up a new nightmare to the world. We have balance now, don't try to tip it," he roughly handed the book to Hiccup who stumbled from the force of it. He caught Astrids eye as Hiccup regained his balance, a silent order to keep his son from chasing after that story. She nodded stiffly to it. The chief exited the arena as his warriors filled in, grabbing weapons from Snotlouts wheelbarrow and setting up in their respective corners.

"So, no adventure?" Snotlout asked, disappointment lacing his voice. The twins whined behind him as they added up the events that had taken place among themselves and Fishlegs stared hard at the ground, fighting off tears he swore were from dust.

Astrid turned back to her target, "sorry Hiccup," she said over her shoulder as she raised another weapon, but she didn't see disappointment in his eyes, only a flash of determination.

She guessed she's on Hiccup duty tonight.

"Where do you think you're all going?" Astrid asked only hours after their last encounter. Hiccups grip on Toothless tightened stubbornly, not intimidated by her axe examining act that was making Snotlout cower down on his dragon.

"Not going after the wretched egg," the twins answered unhelpfully, snickering giving away the obvious.

"Just hear us out Astrid, the dragons-" Hiccup began, that stubborn determination that had been passed down from his father coming out.

"Berk is almost constantly being attacked by the armada Hiccup, we are the main defense against them, just because you and Toothless fly off gods knows where everyday doesn't change that fact," she raised her axe threateningly at him, her dragon standing tall and fearless behind her. Snotlout, the twins and even Fishlegs have been all warding off attacks alongside Astrid and her army, she wasn't saying that Hiccup didn't care about his home, but he was never really there to defend it.

Hiccup lifted his chin defensively, "this is bigger then us Astrid, answers to questions about the dragons history and maybe even further lie in that cave on the cliffs edge, Fishlegs and I have charted a dozen or so possible-"

"You are going against a direct order from the Chief and weakening Berks defense!" Astrid snapped, Stormfly agreeing loudly behind her.

"We're not going to open the wretched egg we're only going to-" Hiccup argued, but the team behind him appeared unsure now.

"Hiccup," she sighed, fighting the urge to facepalm because he wasn't getting the point of this lecture.

"Astrid," Hiccup responded, a serious gaze landing on her, as if she was the one doing something wrong, "we need to look for this cave, Berk has survived a hundred years of invasions even before the dragons switched sides, it can hold one more night. Come with us or not, but don't try to stop us," and with that Toothless leaped into the air, catching the wind under his jet black wings and soaring up over the village.

With great reluctance, Fishlegs silently encouraged Meatlug to beat her wings to join him, passing an apologetic look over to Astrid. The twins were less reluctant as they kicked off as well.

"If you wanted me to stay I-Wowh!" Snotlout was lifted into the sky as well, his dragon breaking off any flirting he could get away from, efficiently silencing his rider.

Stormfly nudged her lightly, her head turning inquisitively before gazing longingly up at the fading dragon shapes above them.

"Alright gang, first cliff is on the south side of Blood-headed mountain," Hiccup informed, his eyes turning to the horizon as the clouds parted to reveal the oncoming night sky.

"How many sights do you have?" Someone flying a familiar spiked dragon flew up beside him.

"Astrid!" Hiccup exclaimed as he nearly lost his hold on Toothless, "I thought you were-"

"Well someone's gotta make sure you don't get killed on this mission," she sighed, a lighthearted smile and shrug creeped onto her features before being run over by a promise of violence, "but if we're not back before sun breaks then I'm going to drag you home if I have to," her axe glinted on her back evilly.

"Good enough for me," Hiccup grinned, eyeing the weapon before leaning down on Toothless, "let's go bud," he whispered. The Nightfury roared in response, his muscles speeding up his wings until the screech of a forming plasma blast reached their ears.

"Please don't eat me!" Ruffnut screamed as he raced out of the cave and leaped off the edge of the cliff. The Screaming Death close on his tail screeched out, its mouth full of teeth wide open. It faultered when it's cave filled with green gas, and its confusion was met by a spark that blinded her, leaving her with an explosion of flames as Ruffnut and Tuffnut flew off to the

safety of the reforming group.

"Nothing in my cave," Astrid reported, eyes widening at Snotlouts burnt skin and smoke cloud forming above him as he too reported nothing in a breathless tone.

"Well there was something in my cave," Ruffnut puffed out his chest proudly.

"But it tried to kill us," Tuffnut snickered which earned them a roll from two sets of eyes below them.

"Let's move on to the next set," Hiccup bit his lip pensively, his eyes searching over his map for a new set of points that hadn't been crossed out, but he only found red ugly crosses.

"That was the last ones, Hiccup," Fishlegs whispered quietly, disappointment over his face.

Astrid didn't want to celebrate this win because of the look that crossed Hiccup face, "Let's head back then Hiccup, the suns going to rise in an hour and the dragons are getting tired." She went for being the voice of reason instead. It appeared as if Hiccup was actually going to agree with her finally, but it was never going to be that easy.

A swift shadow darted between the dragons, spooking them. "Hey it's ok, bud!" Hiccup reassured, petting his Nightfury, however another scaly shadow zoomed passed them, and then another, and another. Toothlesses eyes narrowed into thin slits, his head darting around nervously. Fishlegs gasped loudly, he too looking around their group. If it was any less terrifying he would actually be excited, however there was nothing quite so terrifying as being swallowed by a swarm of dragons. And it wasn't just one species of dragon. "Defense formation!" Hiccup cried, however Toothless jerked forward, entering the fray of dragons along with the rest of his crew.

"What's happening?!" Snotlout cried after punching Hookfang and getting no response, not even an annoyed screech or revenge light up.

"A haul," Hiccup gasped, the familiarity of it from the last time they discovered a nest coming back to him. "They're taking us to a nest!" He called out to his friends, already being swallowed up by the vast numbers of dragon and kills. He pushed his body flat against Toothlesses, whispering into his friends ear, urging him to snap out of the flocks trance, but he knew it was futile.

Fishlegs whimpered on top of his Gronckle, silently mouthing the names of all the species that flew passed him, "...Timberjack, Zippleback, Change wing, Screaming Death, Deadly Natter, Terrible Terrors..." he swallowed loudly, mouth going dry as more and more dragons appeared from the darkness but what made him really nearly wet his pants was the giant mist in front of him. The boarder of the lands ever mapped. They didn't stop.

The Hidious Zippleback darted through the mist, its riders for once in their lives deadly quiet. They silently communicated their panic as they dodged broken ships and sharp rocks. The beasts around them didn't try to pick them off their saddles but the slitted eyes that stared into them were threatening enough to make them cower in their seats.

"This is not good," Hiccup whispered as the mist thinned, his eyes caught on the huge mass that was the flock, ten times larger than the one he had flown through before. The sound of crashing waves against rock caught his attention first, his head shot up from examining the dragons down below to a towering black cliff face. "Oh my gods," he breathed, the violent waves beating against the unforgiving stone cliff as black as night, matching the picture described to him inside the origins book. "We found it,"

Tens of thousands of dragons clawed at the cliffs edge, crawling into crowded caves or soaring up above the clouds to the top of the black island. Hiccups mouth hung open as Toothless shot straight for the cliff, the impact nearly throwing the rider off. Gravity teased him but he held on strong, not daring to look behind to see the restless sea. A familiar call willed him to open his eyes and he found himself staring into the concerned gaze of his dragon, puples blown out normally.

"Oh thank, Thor," Hiccup breathed, he was not looking forward to entering the caves with a compelled dragon.

"Hiccup," hissed someone behind him, the wind off the wings of a dragon pushing at his hair.

"Astrid," Hiccup sighed, releaved, "we found it, the wretched eggs cave," he gestured to the rockface around him.

"Couldn't have been a more abandoned cliff could it?" She complained behind him, searching out the rest of the riders. It was not a hard task, both familiar monsterous nightmare and Zippleback hanging onto the cliff a little way above them and Fishlegs whimpering heard somewhere to the left of them.

"You okay, bud?" Hiccup asked, stroking his friend fondly. An afermative low growl was his answer and a happy flick of the tail. This wasn't like last time, he wasn't showing signs of fear or any more nagging instincts, Hiccup concluded it was just the sudden swarm and not the call of an alpha. But he was almost certain there was an alpha living inside of the vast numbers of dragons wasn't any indication. Toothless soared off the cliff face and twirled back to face it, looking for enterences like his rider.

"There," Hiccup whispered, pointing to a cave opening free of dragons. Toothless swooped obediently towards it, and Hiccup made sure his team saw were he went before they landed on the cool charcoal rocks. He looked around himself, the cave was completely empty, stretching out further into darkness ahead of them. His friends slowly filled in behind him, dragons on edge but no longer under the flocks control. "This must be it," Hiccup carefully dismounted, reaching out a hand to brush over the carvings within the cave wall.

"I can't believe we found it," Astrid breathed, she had bet they would take more than just a night to find it, but the unexpected dragon swarm lead them, carving off weeks of search time that she did not have to waste. They possibly would have never found it, the mists being to unpredictable to even tempt to fly dragons across, especially with what they found last time they travelled across mist.


	3. Chapter 3: Into Darkness

/this fic doesn't have a beta, and I kind of just write bit by bit, sorry

Hiccup examined the familiar carvings, tying them with the same shapes as the golden boarders within the book, this was definitely the right place.

"From this point on there's illusions and monsters ahead to block our path," Hiccup informed, "but if we're careful we'll make it out to the egg cave," he couldn't believe he was saying these words, sure he didn't totally doubt that they would find it but after the whole night of nothing but lost hope it was refreshing to have a win.

"Aww yes!" Tuffnut almost drooled, fist striking the air.

"Adventure! Adventure!" The twins sung together, rushing deeper into the cave.

"Wait! We have to stick-aaaaand their gone," Hiccup sighed, mounting Toothless again, "we better go after them before they get themselves killed, and be careful everyone! We don't know what's down here," Hiccup lead the dragon riders slowly through the cave. Deeper and deeper they ventured, Hookfang lighting up to guide their path. It wasn't long before the identical tails of Barf and Belch reached the fires light and so too do their riders arguing loudly ahead of them.

"Their you guys are," Hiccup sighed and the two turned to him.

"Well this missions over," Tuffnut said, turning away from his twin and walking towards the other riders.

"The paths a dead end," Ruffnut informed, following her brother. Barf and Belch growled disappointingly and turned around to, folding their heads back to turn in the tight space. Toothless squeezes passed the two-headed dragon and looked down at the edge of a seemingly bottomless pit.

"No, this is the path," Hiccup breathed, jumping off of Toothless again and stepping forward. His dragon cried out, teeth snatching his rider before Hiccup stepped off into the darkness but Hiccup already had a metal foot placed steadily on the pit. "It's fake, see Bud?" he tapped the stone ground that was the mouth of the pit, and it clanked with his metal like any rock does. Toothless purred inquisitively, releasing his rider and poking a tilted head at the illusion and meeting solid ground.

"Ingenious," Fishlegs breathed, running his hand along it, "I've never seen anything like-"

"Adventure! Adventure!" The twins squealed again, rushing passed Fishlegs and dashing across the pit.

"Look Sis," Tuffnut laughed, dropping dramatically, legs and arms flailing as if he were falling, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" His sister broke out into hysterics, following her brothers lead.

"Very funny guys," Fishlegs sighed, leading a nervous Metlug through the illusion with a calming hand.

"That was the first test, don't let your eyes decisive you, there's more where that came from," Hiccup told his group as they all made it safety across with their dragons.

"You know, I totally saw that that was an illusion back there," Snotlout bragged, his dragon and everyone on the team, rolled their eyes.

"Of course you did, Snotlout," Hiccup scanned the cave walls, looking for more markings or clues as to how far they were from the egg cavern as Snotlout tried to defend himself.

"Ah guys," Fishlegs pipped up, "do you hear something?" he whimpered. The low grumble of a dragon growl sounded over the bickering of Snotlout and the twins. The dragons tensed, heads darting around to find the offended dragon threatening them.

Hiccup held his hand out to his team, "it might be another illusion, lets keep pushing forward," he suggested and Toothless took a few testing steps forward.

"I don't think that's an illusion Hiccup!" Fishlegs held a pointing finger to the darkness. Glowing slitted eyes stared right back at them, a mouth filled with boiling lava bared its crooked teeth.

"Get back!" Hiccup cried as a lava bolt shot towards them. Toothless hugged the walls, narrowly missing the attack as a lumpy flat dragon slithered out from the darkness.

"Raptortongue!" Fishlegs screamed, Meatlug beat her wings, flying backwards into Stormfly who was spiked up, wings out to seem larger however not opening fully in the caves tightness. The Raptortoungue, a cave dwelling species that looked as if someone accidentally stepped on a Gronckle with sharp spikes, approached closer, body low to the ground and crooked teeth blazing.

"Alright don't panic everybody," Hiccup attempted to calm them, however the new dragon pressed herself flat on the ground, the scream of another blast hitting their ears. Toothless leapt onto the cave wall, claws digging deep as the blast passed them, hitting a blazing Monsterous Nightmare square in the chest who screeched in protest. The flames flashed in size, licking the cave walls.

"Watch it!" Fishlegs cried as Meatlug and Stormfly both backed away from the flames. The Raptortongue shielded its sensitive eyes, squeezing its head into a small slit in the cave walls.

"No, make it brighter!" Hiccup shouted, examining the withering reptile in the brighter light. Her scarred skull collapsed almost fully to fit inside the hole. Her scales were patchy, lumps bearing broken halves of arrows and one foot clawless unlike the rest of them. Toothless blasted at its feet as the other dragons behind them opened their mouths to reveal bright flames ready to fire. The wild dragon gave one last defensive growl before crawling through the slit in the cave wall and disappearing.

"Fishlegs," Hiccup called.

"Already on it," the man said as he and his Gronckle pushed passed the other dragons to seal up the cave slit. Hiccup stared at the slit in deep thought.

"What is it?" Astrid asked, recognizing the look on his face.

"Well, she was old and hurt. Definitely an escaped hunted dragon," he noted, lip between his teeth.

"And?" Astrid encouraged, "We find heaps of dragons like that recently, save heaps of those dragons," saved is a better word for it. She had not saved a dragon in mouths, not since leaving Hiccups side.

"Yes but why would she come out of hiding? Shes weak and is probably smart enough to know that she cant take on a handful of fully grown dragons...what is she defending so badly that she would risk her life to do so?" They all looked into the darkness once more, knowing the answer was passed these shadows.

"All sealed up," Meatlug wondered back behind Toothless, the low growl from the Raptortongue hummed from the closed hole. Hiccup gave it one last troubled glance before pushing forwards once more.

"Boy I do not want to see that ugly thing again, am I right?" Tuffnut grinned, turning to his sister.

"Yeah, makes you wonder what else is down these caves," Ruffnut grinned at him and they both broke out into scary stories of mythical killer dragons, their eyes jumping back to a near whimpering Snotlout behind them who they knew was listening in.

"A split path," Hiccup breathed, coming to two cave openings, "we should split up," he suggested.

"Split up?!" Snotlout almost squeaked, his grip on this dragons horns becoming tighter.

"Well we cant all fit in this one cave as it is, if we split up we'll cover more ground and if we get in danger just yell, and fall back, we'll eventually end up back together if one of these is a dead end." Hiccup explained and the twins grabbed Snotlout for their team imminently leaving Fishlegs, Astrid and Hiccup to take another cave. "Remember, if you find another split path turn back or any danger...you get the point," Hiccup sighed, because the twins were already stomping down the left cave, making Hiccup wonder why he even tries. Toothless took the lead again, followed by Fishlegs and Astrid at the rear. The Nightfury opened its mouth, a soft blue glow of his unfired plasma blast bounced off the cave walls.


End file.
